October 31, 2008

Nearly half a million people cast ballots in early voting in Chicago and Cook County, according to totals released today. But election officials still predict long lines next Tuesday when millions more voters head to the polls.

Some voters waited in line for seven hours Thursday on the last day of early voting, Chicago election authorities said.

More than 260,000 ballots were cast in Chicago and more than 226,000 ballots were cast in the rest of Cook County during the first early voting for a presidential election in Illinois, authorities said.

October 30, 2008

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said today that he doesn't support a convention to rewrite the state's 1970 constitution because he fears attempts to strip some of his executive powers.

Voters will be asked Tuesday if the state should hold a constitutional convention, a proposal they soundly rejected the last time the question was on the ballot 20 years ago.

The governor said he likes the "concept" of a constitutional convention, but said it could be a costly endeavor that "could upset the delicate balance between the executive branch and the legislative branch."

Critics have accused Blagojevich of doing a lot himself to upset that balance by going around the General Assembly to push his pet-causes, such as health care expansion.

Mayor Richard Daley said today the city would not discourage people from coming to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's election night rally Tuesday night, even if they are not among the 65,000 who got tickets from the campaign.

"You think I'm nuts? You think I'm not going to invite people down? This is a celebration," Daley said. "It's a celebration of people firmly believing in Sen. Obama's belief in making changes in Washington, D.C., which we've heard time and time again."

Xenia Powell was among more than 100 people who crushed themselves into the basement of a South Side community center this week with the idea of voting early to avoid long lines on Election Day.

"Wow," Powell said when she joined the line, which snaked its way from inside the large basement voting room and down two hallways in the King Community Center. The history teacher at a South Side charter school settled in to wait 45 minutes before voting.

"It's never taken me this long to vote before, even when I voted on Election Day, but it’s fine," she said. "I want to show my students I early-voted. So I’m here for the long haul."

Powell is among more than 544,000 voters in the city and suburbs who so far have jammed into 150 libraries, office buildings and fieldhouses serving as early-voting polling places. By the time early voting is over Thursday, 697,000 people are expected to have cast ballots before Election Day. There are about 4.76 million registered voters in the six-county area.

"Each day seems to break a record," Cook County Clerk David Orr said. "This is the most intense presidential election I've ever seen. People are willing to stand and wait. They're just so intent on it."

October 28, 2008

Election authorities across the state have failed to properly distribute a notice containing a new version of the question of whether or not Illinois should hold a constitutional convention, opening the possibility for a legal challenge of election results.

At issue is the possibility that thousands of voters made their decision after reading a version of the question on the ballot that a Cook County judge had ruled was misleading. Judge Nathaniel Howse instead ordered that voters should receive a "corrective notice" with a neutral version of the question.

October 27, 2008

Senate race 1 of contrasts

Durbin, Sauerberg differ in background, outlook

In an election where Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is heavily favored, Republicans are getting what they want from their challenger, suburban family practice physician Steve Sauerberg.

During the Senate election in 2004, which served as Barack Obama's launching pad to the Democratic nomination for president, Republicans were embarrassed by both of their candidates. One dropped off the ticket in a sex scandal, and his replacement was a Maryland import who thrived on self-promoting bombast and lost to Obama by a 43-percentage-point margin.

Sauerberg, 55, of Willowbrook, has not embarrassed the GOP, proving to be a serviceable, if not flashy, candidate who has largely self-financed his campaign against Durbin's bid for a third term.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

Past posts

Clout has a special meaning in Chicago, where it can be a noun, a verb or an adjective. This exercise of political influence in a uniquely Chicago style was chronicled in the Tribune cartoon "Clout Street" in the early 1980s. Clout Street, the blog, offers an inside look at the politics practiced from Chicago's City Hall to the Statehouse in Springfield, through the eyes of the Tribune's political and government reporters.